«He considered himself «in the very first row of the second-raters, « yet Somerset Maugham was one of the most successful and influential writers of the 20th century, praised by authors like Anthony Burgess, Ian Fleming, and George Orwell, who called Maugham «the modern writer who has influenced me the most ... for his power of telling a story straightforwardly and without frills.» This omnibus contains three novels-Liza of Lambeth (1897), which enabled Maugham to become a full-time writer; The Magician (1908), a caricature of Aleister Crowley; and The Moon and Sixpence (1919), loosely based on the life of Paul Gauguin-as well as five stories, including «Rain, « about the redemption of prostitute Sadie Thompson.»
